STATISTICS. 837 



the exports, imports, aiul per capita consnniption of agricultural products from the 

 publications of the Bureau of Statistics of the Treasury Department have also been 

 compiled in convenient form down to the latest available data." 



Rothamsted, J. Macdonald (Trans. Highland and Agl. Soc. Scotland, 7 (1895), pp. 

 1-10, j)ls. 3, figs. 2).—k. brief historical account of the Rothamsted Experiment Station 

 and its founder. 



The Rothamsted experiments, J. B. Lawes and J. H. Gilbert ( Trana. Tlighland 

 andAgJ. Soc. Scotland, 7 (JS95), pp. 13-354, figs. 2, pi. 1, dgma. 5).— This is "an account 

 of some of the results of the agricultural iuvestigations conducted at Rothamsted 

 in the field, the feeding shed, and the laboratory over a period of 50 years," and 

 is practically the same as the account given in Bulletin No. 22 of this Office (E. S. R. 

 7, pp.380, 385,415). 



Agricultural teaching at Oxford, J. Sibthorp (Xature, J5 (1897), Xo. 14,28, pp. 

 449,450). 



The Swiss agricultural high schools (Deut. landw. Presse, 24 (1897), Xo. in, pp. 

 76, 77, figs. 3). 



A study of the agricultural and industrial conditions in Egypt, C. Pexsa 

 (Ann. Agron., 22 (1890), II, Xo. 3, pp. 323-409, pi. 1). 



A pioneer in agricultural science, W. P. Cutter (?7. .S^. De}>l. Agr. Yearbook 

 1895, pp. 403-502, fig. 1). — This is a historical account of the services rendered to 

 agriculture by Edmund Ruffin, who was born in Virginia in 1794. He was a strong 

 advocate of the use of lime, and based his opinion on experiments conducted by 

 himself as well as on the writings of others. 



"His reasons for the use of marl, gained from his experience and study, were two 

 in number. He believed that the addition of marl corrected the natural acidity of 

 the soil, and that it assisted in the preservation of organic manures from loss of the 

 gaseous products of decomposition while hastening the decomposition itself. He 

 foreshadowed to a great degree the discoveries of later years with reference to the 

 action of soil bacteria; for, as is now well known, certain of the nitrifying organ- 

 isms in the soil are capable of action only in neutral or alkaline soils, and thrive 

 best in the presence of a small amount of alkali. . . . 



"Edmund Ruffin conducted his experiments with such attention to details and 

 with such a truly scientific method of preparation and iilanuing that we may look 

 on his work as some of the best done in the country. He certainly was ahead of 

 the investigators of the day. He i^roved by experimentation not only that the prac- 

 tice of the farmer is often ahead of the proof of the theorist, but that the work of 

 the theorist is often of great practical benefit to the farmer." 



